On tourist arrivals, Arief said that the number of foreign tourist arrivals from January to October 2016 was 9,403,641 or grew 9.54 percent year-on-year. He expects that until late December, the target of 12 million foreign tourist arrivals will be exceeded, with an estimated 1.3 million arrivals in November and 1.5 million arrivals in December. a�?Ia��m optimistic that it will be surpassed as the said months are the peak periods,a�? he said.

To attract tourists in 2017, Arief will roll out three priority programs: digital tourism, homestay and air connectivity. According to him, digital tourism is a strategy to win global markets, particularly that of 26 countries. Digital tourism program will kick off with the launch of ITX (Indonesia Tourism Exchange), which will bring together travel agencies, accommodation operators and attractions to facilitate transactions.

Earlier, President Joko Widodo had instructed his subordinates to bring in up to Rp670 trillion worth of investment. According to Jokowi, investment proposals in tourism sector can help the government to achieve the target. a�?We must simply establish the product support, positioning, packaging and promotion.a�?

The Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) chairman Thomas Lembong said that several Chinese investors are interested to develop national tourism industry. He named Fosun International and HNA Group as prospective investors. Fosun International is a company actively investing in tourism and fashion industries. The HNA Group is Chinaa��s first airline company.